06/11/2023 ~ Proper 5 (10) ~ Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Hosea 5:15-6:6; Psalm 50:7-15; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 ~ Note: used Matthew 9:35-10:1, 10:5-7 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/835858341

Do What?

“As you go make this proclamation: ‘The reign of heaven has drawn near.’” — Matthew 10:7.

Anyone who sees me can recognize right away I sport a beard. I’ve often said the beard hides that fact that I have the face of Irish Catholic choir boy. On the other hand, I have reached an age at which, if I did shave it off, this choir boy’s face would probably show more than a couple of wrinkles beneath the fuzz.

I have had a beard sitting on this face for probably about 75 or 80% of my adult life. Some men can grow a beard. For others it proves difficult. For me it was easy.

In fact, it was something of a legend in my family that when I was still in the Eighth Grade I came to the dinner table and my mother told me to go wash my face. So I did.

Upon my return my mother said, “I thought I told you to wash your face?”

“I did,” said I.

After a closer look, without any explanation Mom said, “We’ll take care of this after dinner.” And after dinner she dispatched my father to instruct me on how to shave without cutting myself too severely. In short, by the time I was in the Eighth Grade, there was enough beard to be noticeable.

Generally, there were two periods in my adult life when my shorn face was inflicted on the world. The obvious one is when I was in the Army. What follows is the story of the other time my naked face shocked those who saw it. (Slight pause.)

When I moved from New York City to the great State of Maine to marry my wife Bonnie, I had a beard. At that point she did not know me without a beard.

Not long after I needed to make a quick trip to back New York because my uncle had died. I was there on a weekend and on Sunday I went to the church where I had been a member. I sat next to Mary Johnson, the wife of my best friend Paul. Paul is Bonnie’s cousin. Mary had just had her second child.

After the service a women sitting front of us who did not know either of us, turned around, saw the baby on Mary’s lap and told Mary this was a very pretty baby. Then this woman had the audacity to ask if I was the proud grandfather. That hurt a lot. Why?

Mary, the mother of that baby, is a year older than I am. I, right away, realized the beard might be presenting an image to the world I did not want to embrace— elder statesman.

A couple hours after I returned to Maine I shaved my beard off. Bonnie took pictures of the process. Once the beard was banished, she told me to keep talking because she recognized the voice but not the face.

So then I went to seminary. For reasons of which I am unaware the tendency of many men in seminary is to grow a beard. I did not.

As a consequence, I arrived in Norwich, New York, where I served that church for twenty-three years, whiskerless. Then I went on vacation at the end of the first year and I, of course, returned with a beard. How did I grow a beard with that kind of speed? Please see the story about me in the Eighth Grade.

When I led the first service after vacation one parishioner told me she saw a person in a pastor’s robe who she did not recognize. She assumed there was a substitute preacher…. until I started to talk. She told me she recognized the voice, not the face.

Frankly, I noticed once the beard was back in place I was treated differently. Why? I think there’s a cultural prejudice, inaccurate at best, when it comes to some professions. That cultural prejudice says when men sport a beard they are either an academic or an expert.

Believe me, I am not an academic. I know academics. One of my professors in Seminary would have the Greek text of the Gospels in front of him and translate the Greek on the fly while he was reading. That’s an academic. That’s not me.

I admit this: over the years I may have slowed down some and my bones are quite arthritic, but I like to think I’m still a person of action, not an academic, sedentary and staid. That is certainly my history. Why do I say that? I never even had a sit down job until I was 35. The sedentary, staid life— not my cup of tea. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Matthew: “As you go make this proclamation: ‘The reign of heaven has drawn near.’” (Slight pause.)

I suspect most of us prefer action. Most of us prefer doing. In fact, most of us learn not by reading or by studying but by doing.

I think that’s one reason why, when at the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says we should (quote:) “go and make disciples of all nations” we feel pretty comfortable with that idea. After all, it’s a call to action. We like that. We even call it the great commission.

But that the great commission exists opens up an interesting question. What was Jesus really asking us, telling us to do? What, exactly, is the action to which Jesus is summoning us and how should we being doing it? (Slight pause.)

Remember those sedentary, staid academics (also known as Seminary professors) I was just talking about? Those academics unanimously agreed Jesus had one message and one message only. It was, indeed, a message about action, but probably not the one we think it is.

I think most people think this call to action is about making converts. I think that’s in part because culturally we think of ourselves as people of action. When we hear what we think is an order to make converts our first reaction— and it is a cultural reaction— is to say, “Yes! And how quickly do you want that done?”

But what is Jesus asking us to do? Jesus calls us to make disciples. I think making disciples is quite different, a longer, more sustained action, than simply making converts. I think what this really means is Jesus calls us to teach. This is a very, very, very long term process.

The next question we need to consider is in the context of this ministry of teaching is what are we called to teach? I think the most succinct version of the message Jesus wants us to teach, wants us to spread is contained in these words. (Quote:) “…make this proclamation: ‘The reign of heaven has drawn near.’”

Please note: that sentence, those words are in the past perfect tense: The reign of heaven has drawn near. Put differently, the message of Jesus, the message Jesus wants us to spread is simple: God is near, now; God lives among us, now; God walks with us, now.

So, yes— Jesus does want us to be people of action. And how are we to be people of action? Jesus wants us to share, to teach, exactly the same message Jesus was sharing. What message was Jesus sharing? What message was Jesus teaching?

I’ve said it already. Here it is again. God is present to us… now. God is with us on our journey… now. Indeed, on the journey we call life God walks with us at all times and in all places and in all ways. Amen.

06/11/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “This is a quote attributed to the late poet Maya Angelou. ‘I am always surprised when someone tells me they are a Christian. I thought that took a lifetime to accomplish.’ As individuals, never mind worrying about another person becoming a Christian. But helping someone become a Christian is something which takes a longer time, takes more sustained action than most people realize. For me, personally— I’m still working on it.”

BENEDICTION: Go now, go in safety, for you cannot go where God is not. Go now, go in love, for love alone endures. Go now, go with purpose and God will honor your dedication. Go now, go in peace for it is a gift of God to those whose hearts and minds are engaged in the will of the One Triune God, Creator, Christ and Spirit. Amen.